Worldcrunch
This was beyond a cross-country summer trip. From my hometown in eastern France, I had to drive across the whole country, heading for Britanny. I then carried on westward to the Finistère department. Then hopped on a boat for about an hour and voilà: I got to the small and picturesque island of Ouessant (Ushant), […]
Rue de Ponthieu is one of the French capital’s choice spots for late-night partying. But it also has a reputation for dodgy encounters and pre-dawn street fights.
After Brexit and Trump, Europe is forced to fight back. The precious Transatlantic Alliance may be at risk.
After the stunning Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s election in the United States, all eyes shifted to the land of “liberté, égalité, fraternité” to see what modern democracy held in store, as French voters cast their ballots in the April 23 first round of the presidential election. And it did not disappoint, with France’s two […]
It’s October 2017. The spring’s French presidential elections had been won by a fresh-faced ‘Anti-Trump.’ Now it’s time for the two men to meet.
PARIS — President Donald Trump’s executive order banning entry into the United States of citizens of seven different Muslim-majority countries has prompted outrage both at home and abroad. But the drama comes with extra layers of intrigue and import for one country in particular: Iran. For the pragmatic government of President Hassan Rouhani, who reached […]
I live in a small village in the Vosges Mountains in northeastern France with my four brothers and sisters. My father works in industrial maintenance and my mother takes care of the family. I attended kindergarten because I had asked to go there. But I left after a year. My siblings aged 18, 15, 12 […]
France has long been the only country in continental Europe to invest in its military. Though others are now reacting to new threats, it may be too little too late.
When I took this picture of the Sveti Stefan islet from the coast of then Yugoslavia, it was already known as the place to be for the rich and famous. The whole island, now in Montenegro, has been transformed into a 5-star hotel. See more slides from My Grand-Père’s World.
Climate change is giving meteorologists an added incentive to make accurate, ever more timely predictions. Supercomputers are helping them do it.
PARIS — Even as President Trump appears clearly convinced that eight years of Obama environmental policy were bad for business, other governments are betting on the massive investments that energy transition requires. Le Figaro reports that France has become the world’s second country to issue green bonds, raising a record 7 billion euros ($7.5 billion) […]
—Analysis— Back in the 16th century, it took Ferdinand Magellan“s crew more than two years to sail around the world. Yesterday, a new record was set in the prestigious Vendée Globe solo sailing race, as French skipper Armel Le Cléac’h took just 74 days to circumnavigate our planet. When such records are set, we tend […]
PARIS — Put any two Americans abroad (of a particular political bent — or not?) in the same room, and they’ll try at first to avoid the elephant in said room. It won’t last. The time has come to count down the days and hours to Friday’s inauguration of a bad-New-York-joke-turned-leader-of-the-free-world. An old Colorado friend […]
It seems only the Church has managed to curb the ambitions of recent Congolese rulers Mobutu and Joseph Kabila. Now Church leaders are trying to peacefully nudge Kabila from power to avoid the bloodshed many are predicting.
VERSAILLES — With the attention to detail that comes with doing something for the last time, Béatrix Saule checks on the 200 clocks that chime one after another. She unfolds a shutter to protect the drapes from the sun. She tests the floor to see if there’s any movement in stonework. Saule has been doing […]
This is the face of civil disobedience, circa 2017. Cédric Herrou, a 37-year-old farmer from southeastern France, appeared in court yesterday in Nice for having illegally helped undocumented African migrants cross the Italian-French border. “I do it because it has to be done,” Le Monde quotes him as saying. An olive and egg farmer and […]
-Essay- PARIS — Changes, disruptions, earthquakes … We no longer know what word best describes the political events unfolding before our eyes. After former French president Nicolas Sarkozy lost in the conservative primaries, and current Socialist president François Hollande chose not to run, Matteo Renzi resigned as Italian prime minister, becoming the latest European leader […]
1. My Yacht, My Shell Company: Cheating, Divorce And Panama Papers GERMANY — Süddeutsche Zeitung, April 8 2. Living In Space, Russia Probes 55 Years After Yuri Gagarin RUSSIA — Kommersant, Aug. 12 3. A Yogurt Story, When Immigrant Dreams Feed American Capitalism UNITED STATES — La Stampa, May 3 4. Sexism In Chivalry? A […]
PARIS — There was enough news (real and fake) to keep our heads spinning for all of 2016. Yet one project we are particularly proud about this past year is our new Rue Amelot ongoing series of essays. These pieces may or may not take news as a leaping-off point, but ultimately wind up somewhere […]
Several decades of reflection and study have led neurobiologist Jean-Pierre Changeux to stake out a new field that shows how art influences the brain.
PARIS — The smartphone of Eudes, a web project manager, switches automatically from 3G to WiFi as soon as he’s near his office. It also downloads relevant newspaper articles just before he steps into the metro. Perhaps most importantly, Eudes is instantly notified when the coffee machine needs water. This automated magic is thanks to […]
PARIS — Solar has become the new energy El Dorado. With the price of solar panels plummeting, solar energy has developed spectacularly in recent years. Less than 10 years ago, there were only a few gigawatts (GW) of new solar panels installed each year. This year, new capacity should represent more than 70 GW, up […]
We can be judged by our own strength, but also by the relative strength of our adversaries. Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. election was also the defeat of Hillary Clinton, and all of what she represented. Last night’s unprecedented announcement that embattled French President Francois Hollande would not seek a second term will no […]
French President Hollande, who announced he will not seek reelection, led a series of mishaps and failures, down to the indignity of his last public speech.
He was the candidate she feared the most. Not only could he unify his own party, but he could siphon crucial votes from her conservative Catholic base. And now that François Fillon won yesterday’s “right and center” primary ahead of next year’s presidential election, the far-right French leader Marine Le Pen must shift her strategy. […]
When French astronaut Thomas Pesquet took off last week for a six-month mission on the International Space Station, he brought a tantalizing taste of home with him. Breton lobster. Beef bourguignon. Chicken breast in a white wine mushroom sauce pressed with gingerbread. These are some of the meals that Pesquet, the first Frenchman in space […]
We first had “Merkozy,” a marriage of convenience between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French president Nicolas Sarkozy made to counter the European debt crisis. Then the pair was forced to part ways when Sarkozy lost to current French President Francois Hollande. Merkel and Hollande’s relationship was always awkward, with one newspaper saying “there […]
-Essay- I recently turned 30, so the math tells me I’ve already lived through one third of my life. That also means I still have at least 20,000 days to make all of my dreams come true. Speaking of dreams, it’s strange how they change as we grow older. When I was 25, I had […]
PARIS — Find the distribution of random paths on a directed graph. Of course, when you say it like that, such a problem will hardly excite the masses. But if you had managed to find this mysterious distribution, you would have obtained the PageRank algorithm. And if you have PageRank, you have Google, now the […]
PARIS — How much is the life of a victim of terrorism worth? How do you quantify the loss of children taken from their parents? Of husbands or wives torn from their spouse by the bullets of a madman? These are harrowing questions that require reflection but also a dose of cold economic reasoning. The […]
With the American billionaire heading to the White House, the European establishment is quaking in its boots.
Now that“s what I call street art…!
4:34 p.m. and 7 seconds. That’s the time thousands of French women are expected to walk out of their jobs today, and call it a year. Led by the feminist group Les Glorieuses, an estimated 4,500 people will be protesting the fact that “at 4:34pm (and 7 seconds) on November 7, women will effectively be […]
Since the inauguration of the Orthodox cathedral and the Russian cultural center in the French capital on Oct. 19, questions about the use of the site for more sinister purposes have been raised.
Near the French capital’s Gare du Nord train station, migrants have expanded yet another shantytown just days after the controversial Calais “Jungle” was dismantled by the state. Locals are not pleased.
We, the fortunate and overstimulated masses of the early 21st century can watch the whole world pass by on our computer and smartphone screens. The picture often isn’t pretty, and we would all do well to lift our heads up more often to see what’s happening right in front of us. In real life, as […]
NANTES — In contemporary art, digital data is as much a medium as paint these days. One of the best works showcased during Scopitone, a festival centered on all things digital in the French city of Nantes, used scientific data to reflect how stars are born. An audio, tactile and visual work, called Unfold, is […]
Following weeks of planning, the operation finally began this morning before daybreak: It was time to dismantle the infamous Calais “Jungle.” Again. The Jungle is home to an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 migrants, most of them are young men from Africa and the Middle East, living in squalid conditions who wish to cross the Channel […]